What more is there to say?

I’m writing this in the aftermath of a brief snowstorm, surprising since other parts of NSW have been experiencing record heat. It’s come at the wrong end of my visit to the Snowy Mountains, which has mainly been characterized by wind and rain – not good weather for skiing. Still, it’s very pleasant to look at if you’re inside with a fire. I’m staying at Lake Eucumbene, which is well below the normal snowline. This means that the snow usually melts pretty fast. On the other hand, you get to see things you wouldn’t expect higher up, like the kangaroos coming out from the shelter of the trees and nuzzling through the snow to eat the grass beneath.

The markets for finals tickets provide pretty good evidence on which football code is going to win out in Australia.

Ticket scalping is rife for the AFL Grand Final, despite a Victorian government crackdown. Meanwhile, in the NRL finals, 10 000 tickets have been given away free.

Another great night last night, with the stirring tune of La Marseillaise announcing a great win for the Lions. I’m sure all right-thinking people, even Swans supporters, will join me in hoping for victory over Collingwood next week.

For Father’s Day, the family took me out to lunch, down the hill to the St Lucia golf course, where you can have a very pleasant, moderately priced, meal overlooking the 18th hole. This is definitely the way to enjoy golf as a spectator sport. And Brisbane is definitely the place to do it.

For Fathers’ Day, the family took me out to lunch, down the hill to the St Lucia golf course, where you can have a very pleasant, moderately priced, meal overlooking the 18th hole. This is definitely the way to enjoy golf as a spectator sport.

While we enjoyed a barbecue tonight we were entertained by a skywriter tracing out “Jesus saves”. Australians and Americans would do well to follow his example.

Here in Brisbane, the buses still have signs admonishing students (who get concessional fares) to give up their seats to adults. I hadn’t seen this in action until yesterday, when I was on a bus from the University to the city, which was standing room only when I got on. An elderly lady got on the next stop and the driver used the PA system to call on students to get up and “give their seats to the older people”.

I was pleased to see that one student immediately offered her seat to the old lady. I had slightly more mixed feelings when another student followed suit, offering her seat to me. After declining one such offer, I decided it was better to age gracefully and accepted a second – the old knees aren’t what they used to be, after all.

The news that scientists have discovered an ingredient in red wine that promotes longevity has been greeted with naive enthusiasm in some quarters. On the contrary, this is BAD NEWS. The sooner they isolate the crucial ingredient, the sooner they’ll be able to package it in a nasty pill.

Ken Parish has been playing the generation game (in this case, Baby Boomer vs Gen X) with Paul Watson an avid boomer-basher. A good time was had by all, as usual.

I don’t want to interrupt anyone’s fun, but I thought it might be worth pointing out that as a device for explaining social trends, the idea of a ‘generation’ is almost totally useless*. Nowhere is this more true than when it’s used with reference to ‘baby boomers’.

Among the obvious problems with this concept are the facts that

• Most of the people thought of as archetypal boomers weren’t born during the baby boom (examples: John Lennon 1940-80 and Mick Jagger 1943- )
• Most people born during the baby boom entered the labour force during a period of high youth unemployment and have experienced high rates of unemployment ever since

To satisfy all the standard cliches about baby boomers you would have to be simultaneously over 60 (to be a contemporary of Lennon and Jagger) and under 35 (to be among the last to get a free university education in Australia).

I did a more lengthy analysis of the generation game in the Fin a few years back which I’ll post soon.

* For some limited technical purposes, the related concept of a ‘cohort’ is useful, if handled with care.